Robin looked at it more closely, and then his stomach quickly righted itself. The picture was indeed very small. And while the bearded man in the picture did bear some resemblance to the one Robin had encountered, he no doubt resembled a million other bearded men. No, Robin decided, because he still remembered those cruel eyes, because of his frightening narrow escapes from Quill, and now because of his new fears for Danny, he was once again letting his imagination play tricks on him. No, this picture was just as he had thought before. It was no one he knew.
“So wot does you think yer goin’ ter do?” Duck asked.
“Go see my old friend, Mr. Slyke,” said Robin.
The weather the next day continued gray and drizzly, and once again there was no setting out to shine shoes. But Robin felt, and the others agreed with him, that he should wait until late afternoon, it being the safest time to go out. Hawker would be at The Whole Hog, no doubt accompanied by Maggot and Quill, who would have no prey to hunt down that day. When the time finally came, Robin set out with high hopes that he would return with enough money to rid them of all their worries.
“Don’t let yerself git gypped,” Duck said. “Them two pieces is got ter be gold through an’ through. Don’t let ’im give you none o’ ’is cup an’ saucer stuff like he done with yer pa’s watch.”
Yes, Robin was going off with something this time that Mr. Slyke would have to agree was not plated anything! Robin had decided, however, that he would only show him the pin. If he got enough for that, there was no reason to produce the locket, even though he brought it along with him. The locket he would save in case they ever had another emergency; or, if there never was one, to sell and put toward the shoe-shine stand they all wanted. He had great plans indeed for this suddenly realized source of wealth!
The pawnshop was open, as Robin expected it would be, and Mr. Slyke was behind the counter reading his newspaper just as he had been the first time Robin walked through the door. As soon as he saw Robin, a smile almost of triumph appeared on his sallow face.
“Well, I see he’s come back,” he said, “the boy with the watch. Did you decide to take my offer? I told you twenty-five cents is a good offer. A boy can do a lot with twenty-five cents.”
Robin hesitated. With the encouragement of the boys, he had entered the pawnshop feeling quite sure of himself. But Mr. Slyke had a way of making him feel unsure of anything.
“I … I didn’t bring my watch,” he said.
The smile vanished from Mr. Slyke’s face. “Then why are you here?” he asked abruptly.
“I … I have something else to sell,” replied Robin.
The smile halfway returned to Mr. Slyke’s face. “What is it? Something else that your papa gave you?”
Stolen from his step-papa was more like it! But Robin did not see that he needed to confess this to Mr. Slyke. He simply pulled the pin from his pocket and laid it on the counter. Mr. Slyke swiftly snatched it up and examined it closely as he had the watch.
“You say you got this from your papa?” he asked, pulling a small magnifying glass from a drawer and looking through it at the pin. He asked the question as if he were simply making conversation and had no real interest in the answer.
“Mmm,” said Robin, that passing for either “yes” or “no,” however Mr. Slyke chose to take it.
Mr. Slyke laid his magnifying glass down on the counter. “It’s gold,” he said with a shrug. “But low quality. Diamonds just chips. Ruby maybe just glass. I can give you one dollar forty-five cents, but I’ll be losing money.”
“Just one dollar forty-five cents?” repeated Robin, his dreams of sudden wealth instantly evaporating. He had thought at least five dollars.
“Nobody comes to a pawnshop who got a lot of money to spend,” said Mr. Slyke. “If I pay you more, I got to charge more, and nobody will look at it. You’d better be smart and take the dollar forty-five cents.”
What choice did Robin have? Right now he desperately needed money for Danny’s milk. “I’ll take it,” he said.
Mr. Slyke pulled open a drawer and started to count out money from it. But suddenly he paused, looked stealthily around the empty shop as if there might be someone there listening, leaned on the counter, and drew his face up close to Robin.
“You don’t have anything else of your papa’s, do you? I’ll look at anything you got, but I’ll tell you what I’m looking for. This man comes in all the time asking for something that once got stolen from him. He goes around to all the pawnshops hoping someone will bring it in. Now, I’m not saying your papa gave you something that was stolen, but I tell you I look at everything I can because you never know where it came from. This man will pay fifty dollars if it’s what he’s looking for. Whoever brings it to me gets fifteen, and no questions asked.”
“What … what is he looking for?” asked Robin.
“It’s a locket,” said Mr. Slyke, dropping his voice almost to a whisper. “You got anything like that?”
Robin nodded.
“Is your locket round with a small diamond in the middle and roses into it all around?” asked Mr. Slyke. “Locket’s got to be gold too. This man’s not paying for nickel plate. Your locket gold, is it, with the diamond and roses?”
Robin gulped, and nodded again.
“You got it on you?” asked Mr. Slyke. “Or you got to go get it?”
Robin put a shaking hand inside
